A leaked spec sheet says that HP's Chromebook will be the largest yet.

Fans of Chrome OS are getting quite a few choices lately. According to a leaked spec sheet [PDF] dug up by The Verge, HP is looking to get into the game with its own Chromebook: the HP Pavilion Chromebook 14-c010us.

The spec sheet shows a Chromebook not much different from its brethren: a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 16GB SSD will drive the action on the inside, while three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, a 100 megabit LAN port, a card reader, and a headphone jack will allow for connectivity to other devices. Dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth round out the connectivity options, and a basic webcam is also included. The 3.96 pound laptop is rated for four hours and 15 minutes of battery life, in the same ballpark as Acer's C7.

The biggest difference between HP's Chromebook and the other Intel-based models we've seen so far is its screen, which packs 1366x768 pixels into a 14-inch display rather than the 11.6-inch display used by Acer's C7 Chromebook and the upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad X131e. This gives it a rather unimpressive 112 PPI pixel density, though we expect some users will appreciate the larger and easier-to-read screen.

Like those two models, however, the 14-c010us appears to be a lightly modified version of one of HP's low-end Windows laptops, in this case the HP Pavilion Sleekbook 14-b010us. That laptop is currently listed at $499, but it includes a few cost-increasing amenities that the Chrome OS version doesn't offer—the Core i3 processor and Windows 8 license foremost among them (switching the Sleekbook's 500GB hard drive for 16GB of solid-state storage is probably a wash, price-wise). The differences make it difficult to extrapolate a price, but given past precedent we would expect it to come in at perhaps $299 or $349 when (and if) HP makes it official.

We'll keep an eye out for an official announcement and update this post if new details come to light.

Update: AnandTech has unearthed a screenshot that pegs the Pavilion Chromebook at a price of $329, right in between our original estimates.

Andrew Cunningham
Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites

Maybe? I see it as appealing to folks whose vision isn't what it used to be - maybe older users who, generally speaking, might be better served by the simplicity of a Chromebook than by a cheap crapware-infested Windows PC.

As others have pointed out, re-using a bunch of components from one of its cheap Windows laptops rather than designing a purpose-built Chromebook means that HP really has nothing to lose either way.

I'd love to see one of these with 1800p 13" screen, +12 hours battery life in one of those sexy black sleekbook cases. If it's Chrome OS it doesn't mean that it has to have the shittiest hardware on the planet.

I'm curious if they really need to go through 15", 17" and 19" Chromebooks until they see that a cheap all-in-one desktop actually is the ideal application for that OS.

I mean, in offices you're bound to have good and reliable network access, you often need nothing but a browser for Google Apps, intranet apps, the web and email, and such a cheap, thin client would be just a gift for many companies. In fact many desktop PCs in that role are carefully stripped down and closed up by hard-working admins to be nothing but exactly that.

I'm saying this since years and I'm really wondering why nobody at Google and elsewhere seems to get this. Offer a 20"-24" low-power all-in-one cheap Chrome-Desktop and you'll have to work hard to satisfy the demand for that. Plonk it down on a desk, log in, done. If it breaks, plonk down a fresh one, log in, continue whatever you were doing.

If Google would be clever it would base this on Android anyway. As soon as MS comes with Office for Android later this year this would help quite a bit.

Sometimes I really think Google has lost its marbles. There are some things Google could do to just take huge parts of the IT-landscape and they're not doing them. If this is a foretaste of what we have to expect when we will ever get a Google near-monopoly, well...

Maybe? I see it as appealing to folks whose vision isn't what it used to be - maybe older users who, generally speaking, might be better served by the simplicity of a Chromebook than by a cheap crapware-infested Windows PC.

As others have pointed out, re-using a bunch of components from one of its cheap Windows laptops rather than designing a purpose-built Chromebook means that HP really has nothing to lose either way.

If you think like that then Apple shouldn't have existed. They only have that laughing stock of an OS and the best hardware in the world.

Most of the people don't buy Apple because of Mac OS X and iOS, the amazing Apple store, the iTunes or the $50+ dongles that make you look like an ass every time you need to present something, or the proprietary everything, or the maximum security prison a.k.a. their closed eco-system with its homebrew, macports, etc...

I could go on for hours like this but the point is that for most of the users the most important part is the hardware. The software is always secondary and it's there for the hardware.

What they're doing here is according to me completely wrong. Chrome OS is decent enough for most of home users. The problem is the hardware. It's just too awful.

Actually, I will be strongly considering getting this for my Grandmother.. the 11.6" ones are too small and the 15" laptop she has is on the end of it's life cycle (plus numerous phone calls to try and fix problems that my relatives near by seem to be making worse).. as long as I can set it up with her printer and she likes the keyboard (the biggest worry here) it will save us both a bunch of headaches

EDIT: welp.. Andrew quickly beat me to it.. should have scrolled the few comments..

Maybe? I see it as appealing to folks whose vision isn't what it used to be - maybe older users who, generally speaking, might be better served by the simplicity of a Chromebook than by a cheap crapware-infested Windows PC.

As others have pointed out, re-using a bunch of components from one of its cheap Windows laptops rather than designing a purpose-built Chromebook means that HP really has nothing to lose either way.

If you think like that then Apple shouldn't have existed. They only have that laughing stock of an OS and the best hardware in the world.

...yes, an OS so good that they just gave up on it.

They're like Bush Men spoiling their village with poo and then abandoning it and moving on.

I don't see the point in this at any price over $150. Chinese sub-laptops have better specs and cost $200 already, some are even from 'known' vendors (Velocity Micro comes to mind). If its simplicity the selling point, isn't it a lot less simple to expect casual users to learn and adapt to a new platform, than to just sell a tweaked windows or android-based system? The target demo is already famliar with those.

I actually like not having such a high resolution. These smaller screens bother those of us with not so great eye sight anymore. I think the Chromebook's have a future as many people can do very well now days with a internet based OS like Chrome. I see no reason a person with internet access most of the time would find Chrome OS a problem. Unless they need applications not provided by Google. I still consider a Chromebook a secondary type device. One I would choose for a travel companion or a web surfing device other then a tablet. I can certainly find myself choosing a Chromebook over a iPad or Surface. Simply because its price reflects more what I think a second device is worth to me.

Methinks HP is getting into a game that relatively few people are playing. Many may try it, but few will be satisfied with the results. A bloody waste of resources on HP's part.

If you believe the reports, Chromebooks are outselling Windows 8 PCs at the moment. HP has no Chromebook offering right now. It makes sense to offer at least one if they offer tons of Windows 8 options.

And it doesn't cost HP a fortune either, because most of the hardware is fairly standard to what they're doing now.

I don't see the point in this at any price over $150. Chinese sub-laptops have better specs and cost $200 already, some are even from 'known' vendors (Velocity Micro comes to mind). If its simplicity the selling point, isn't it a lot less simple to expect casual users to learn and adapt to a new platform, than to just sell a tweaked windows or android-based system? The target demo is already famliar with those.

Your right their hardware does not reflect a device that can demand much in the way of price. I think that was their problem early on. The Acer and Samsung Chrombook's fall within that $250 range which does make them more attractive. I would certainly consider them before buying a $500 iPad. The Chromebook's along with tablets seem to attrract more interest in that under $250 sweet spot. Even Apple must have realized this offering the iPad Mini at $325. It does appear that more users of tablets and Chromebook's find these devices more of a secondary choice them actually replacing a PC. My only issue with Chromebook's is their inability to run software like iTunes, or Office or other software designed for Windows or Mac's. Some might find applications tied to the cloud and a browser restrictive.

So is this more of a throw shit at the wall and see what sticks product or is HP doing something right here? Personally I think the Chrome OS on a desktop or laptop is perfect for people that strictly browse the web or can't be trusted with a Windows OS or costly Mac.

Can someone explain Chromebooks to me? So far as I can tell they're exclusively for the fantastically ignorant. They don't cost any less than a laptop. So what's the difference between this and something with Ubuntu or Windows on it; that I can just run Chrome on. Except of course I can't put any one of a billion native apps on it and the specs are worse.

I'm curious if they really need to go through 15", 17" and 19" Chromebooks until they see that a cheap all-in-one desktop actually is the ideal application for that OS.

I mean, in offices you're bound to have good and reliable network access, you often need nothing but a browser for Google Apps, intranet apps, the web and email, and such a cheap, thin client would be just a gift for many companies. In fact many desktop PCs in that role are carefully stripped down and closed up by hard-working admins to be nothing but exactly that.

I don't think you're giving enough credit to the diversity of use cases inherent in a modern office. Most employees don't do just email, word processing, and spreadsheets. They nearly all do those things, of course, but then the similarities stop.

Accountants need Excel - they need it like you and I need oxygen to breathe. Engineers need CATIA/NX/MatLab and a whole host of other very specialized applications. Manufacturing needs a stable and predictable platform that can be chopped down to a dumb terminal, but it will still probably need to interface with an injection molder or some test equipment - and it will need to run code developed in house. Warehousing is often the same way.

The thought of replacing the office PC (utilitarian and inelegant though it may be) reminds me of this horrid little Slate piece, which calls for the elimination of caps lock from keyboards. Just because you don't use that functionality doesn't mean others don't. The PC, like it or not, is still around for its flexibility and adaptability for a wide range of different uses. Replacing it with a ChromeOS "thin client" capable of replicating an x86 PC's entire functionality will net you a PC - a different PC, certainly, but still roughly the same.

Quote:

I'm saying this since years and I'm really wondering why nobody at Google and elsewhere seems to get this. Offer a 20"-24" low-power all-in-one cheap Chrome-Desktop and you'll have to work hard to satisfy the demand for that. Plonk it down on a desk, log in, done. If it breaks, plonk down a fresh one, log in, continue whatever you were doing.

This is already being done with thin clients and terminal servers; VDI, Citrix, etc. Trouble with thin clients is that users don't always like them. New hire walks in, first day: "Wow, IT really chintzed out - they couldn't even spring for a real computer!"

All it takes is for some vice president of whatever to browbeat IT into providing him with a "real laptop". Then everyone wants one, and the floodgates open...

If you believe the reports, Chromebooks are outselling Windows 8 PCs at the moment. HP has no Chromebook offering right now. It makes sense to offer at least one if they offer tons of Windows 8 options.

I've never read a report which says this actually. Acer today said Chromebooks are ~10% of their sales for some unknown recent timeslice, and they are unhappy that Win8 didn't move the needle up, but that's nowhere near >50%.

If ChromeOS was suddenly eating 50% of Windows share I feel like that would be huge news.

Wonderful. Another low-end HP product that people can get mad at me about when I tell them it costs more to repair than it did brand new. I wonder if they will be using G-series parts. If so I should start keeping a few extra fans on hand, those things are crap.

Lessee... Microsoft tries to pull a fast one on its customers and its platform builders (whom they have JUST accused of being the cause of the deathly Christmas silence accompanying any--and every--thing associated with Win8).

Now, amazingly, we have the following manufacturers offering the associated iron:

Can someone explain Chromebooks to me? So far as I can tell they're exclusively for the fantastically ignorant. They don't cost any less than a laptop. So what's the difference between this and something with Ubuntu or Windows on it; that I can just run Chrome on. Except of course I can't put any one of a billion native apps on it and the specs are worse.

I have a CR-48 (one of the Chrome OS test laptops), and felt very much as you do. I played with it for a few weeks, then never touched it.

Then my girlfriend's MacBook bit the big one, and so I gave the CR-48 to her for a few months. And she dug it, to my astonishment. While she missed Office, she used it 2-3 hours a day for work and school, and felt like it barely hampered her at all. For a non-power-user, it was a comfortable environment that she got up to speed with much faster than if I'd dropped her into Ubuntu.

Moreover, Chrome OS runs like butter on a CR-48, which has pretty poor specs. Ubuntu runs like hell on mine; based on the YouTube videos of people who've loaded Win7 on them, Windows doesn't run much better.

Is a Chromebook for you? It certainly wasn't for me; I'm far too comfortable with the power features of OS X to ever switch away. But for a user like my girlfriend, who spends 90% of her computer time in either Chrome or VLC, it actually works surprisingly well.

Can someone explain Chromebooks to me? So far as I can tell they're exclusively for the fantastically ignorant. They don't cost any less than a laptop. So what's the difference between this and something with Ubuntu or Windows on it; that I can just run Chrome on. Except of course I can't put any one of a billion native apps on it and the specs are worse.

Rhetorical question, don't answer that.

saying this is rhetorical question clearly shows that you have no idea at all what Chromebooks and ChromeOS are about. Like many other here, you're stuck in an old mindset and you're missing the bigger point.

I'm curious if they really need to go through 15", 17" and 19" Chromebooks until they see that a cheap all-in-one desktop actually is the ideal application for that OS.

I mean, in offices you're bound to have good and reliable network access, you often need nothing but a browser for Google Apps, intranet apps, the web and email, and such a cheap, thin client would be just a gift for many companies. In fact many desktop PCs in that role are carefully stripped down and closed up by hard-working admins to be nothing but exactly that.

I don't think you're giving enough credit to the diversity of use cases inherent in a modern office. Most employees don't do just email, word processing, and spreadsheets. They nearly all do those things, of course, but then the similarities stop.

Accountants need Excel - they need it like you and I need oxygen to breathe. Engineers need CATIA/NX/MatLab and a whole host of other very specialized applications. Manufacturing needs a stable and predictable platform that can be chopped down to a dumb terminal, but it will still probably need to interface with an injection molder or some test equipment - and it will need to run code developed in house. Warehousing is often the same way.

Of course if you need a PC you're going to need a PC. But there are lots of cases in offices where such a device would be not only good enough but perfectly suited. Having to install and maintain a full PC for those very limited use cases often is outright crazy. And if you'd use Android instead you'd get quite a few of apps beyond a browser.

If Google really is serious about this platform an all-in-one desktop device would be at least as useful as cheap Chromebooks. I guess it's just that HP and others are not exactly happy with killing off even more PC sales here.

Accountants need Excel - they need it like you and I need oxygen to breathe. Engineers need CATIA/NX/MatLab and a whole host of other very specialized applications. Manufacturing needs a stable and predictable platform that can be chopped down to a dumb terminal, but it will still probably need to interface with an injection molder or some test equipment - and it will need to run code developed in house. Warehousing is often the same way.

What does the nice lady at the dentist's reception desk need? Probably, just a browser. An intranet web app to schedule appointments, fill in customer files, print out invoices, web access to medical insurance companies' web apps, etc. That, and a phone.

What does the nurse at the hospital use to fill out daily medical reports, order missing medicine, etc? An intranet web app. What does the librarian use to keep track of book check outs? An intranet web app. You mention warehousing, but many, many warehouses manage inventory through, you've guessed it, an intranet web app.

So yeah, web apps get you a very long way in business, government, etc. Bureaucracy, customer service, etc are all increasingly implemented through some form of intranet.

Maybe? I see it as appealing to folks whose vision isn't what it used to be - maybe older users who, generally speaking, might be better served by the simplicity of a Chromebook than by a cheap crapware-infested Windows PC.

As others have pointed out, re-using a bunch of components from one of its cheap Windows laptops rather than designing a purpose-built Chromebook means that HP really has nothing to lose either way.

I can see my parents using it. My step Dad uses a netbook at the moment with the browser zoomed in large. Plus being windows he is always likely to download some malicious software. Seems like the ideal set-up. A better battery life would seal it though.